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ON IRISH LEXICOGRAPHY.
17

So that the passage from Wb. 30 b na herassiget dogníma (anasbere), is rather ‘that thy deeds may not make null what thou sayest,’ than ‘ne contradicant facta facta tua’ of Gr. Celt.², p. 444, referring to the operarium inconfussibilem of the text.

emech: Ml. 27a3, isnaib emechaib no honaib fortrommaib, gl. in opportunitatibus in tribulatione; 48 c9, indemech, gl. opportune; 50 b7, cen émigi no fortrummai, gl. absque opportunitate; cf. the following passage, M. Rath, p. 14:—

is tu dlíġes co h‑eimeaċ
at fisiġ, at fírċléireċ,

which O’Donovan translates, “it is thou oughtest readily”, &c.


But far more frequently, the meaning of the word, as ascertainable from old Irish texts, is quite borne out by abundant use in the later writings, only that here the laxer application sometimes permits a freer rendering. Of these, I have selected the following for exemplification, preferring those that are not found in Windisch’s glossary as not occurring in his Texte.

fortchide: cf. Ml. 29d14, where it is used as an explanation of nephéscide, gl. σκοτομήνη (cf. 30α1,5) noctem inlunem; cf. M. Rath, p. 240, conad h‑e sin adbar d’ár ḟasastar fuaṫnell foirtċide firdorċa, as rendered by O’Donovan, “wherefore a dark and gloomy cloud was produced”; but on the preceding page he translates, fuirme faena foirtċide, “feeble, lacerated troops”. It is, no doubt, the béurla foirtċe na ḃfileaḋ, “the occult language of the poets”, O’Curry, Lectures, p. 558, and O’Reilly’s ‘dark’, ‘obscure’.

esnadud: Ml. 24c1, tri sesnadud innadiglae dothabairt foraib, “through delay in inflicting punishment on them”. This is of very common usage in Mid. Irish, cf. LB 56 α 61: co n‑id desmberecht sin nach cóir fuirech na h‑esnadud na timna ndiada cen a comallad is-ind aimsir i n‑aithnigter ó Dia, “so that this shows that it is not right to stop or delay fulfilling the divine commands at the time they are ordered by God”; LB 69 β 59, cen esnadud din ocus cen [n]ách fuirech is taburtha ind almsu, “sine dilatione tribuenda est eleemosyna”; and frequently found in this combination; cf. F. Mast. iii. pp. 1862, 1926, 2188, 2294.

aidme: Ml. 51c5, alaaile aidme ceuldae, gl. alterius musici instrumenti; 54b4, arnaib aidmib, gl. instruments; cf. Wb. 3c, robtar hesid

todd lecture series, vol. ii.
B